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Potential Hammer? West Ham eye swoop for defensive duo

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DragovicRumour has it that West Ham United have sent scouts to the Austria v Russia European Championship Qualifier to watch two top Austrian defenders in action – Dynamo Kiev’s Aleksandar Dragovic and Red Bull Salzburg’s Martin Hinteregger. It’s an exciting development for West Ham, given that whilst the team have been strengthened tremendously upfront, the defensive positions in the squad still need more depth – especially given Winston Reid’s continued reluctance to extend his contract at West Ham.

Who are ya?

The Daily Mail (annoying for feminism, decent for football reporting) broke the story about scouting the two Austrians. Both have gained a name for themselves at their respective league clubs and played internationally – impressive given that both are only in their early twenties.

Big Sam, spend some money!

There’s no price listing in the source article for Hinteregger, but Dragovic is listed as potentially being worth £6 million. If Hinteregger is valued similarly, and we do somehow manage to get £15million for Reid in January, this deal would be good math and a good bit of business for West Ham.

Believability factor 

Why not – it actually seems like a sensible game plan. If the two like playing together for their country, they would probably like playing together at club level also – it could be a good move for the players and for the club (think of the partnership and good relationship between West Ham’s Senegalese duo, Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho.) The question is how the negotiations would go given that the players currently play for two very different clubs – would we be happy to get just one or do they need to come as a package?

Game changer?

It would be incredible to buy two players that already work together as a team, and these two do seem to do well together. The scouts sent to the Austria v Russia game would have been pleased to observe both players keep a clean sheet against Russia whilst Austria walked away with all three points – although Hinteregger did manage to pick up a yellow card in the process and Dragovic had to come off owing to injury in the 86th minute. It happens.
These players would be a great addition to the Hammers squad. James Collins and James Tomkins are valuable players to West Ham, but they need support, especially given the injuries we tend to experience in those positions, and I don’t believe Winston Reid can be relied on as part of West Ham’s future anymore.
Would you be pleased to see the signing of these two players? Do you think they’d be adequate cover if we are to lose Winston Reid?

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8 comments

  • James says:

    We will not get anywhere close to 15m for Reid. We’ll be lucky to get 5m.

  • philtheiron says:

    5mill? If we’re lucky!
    What with the way Reid is hellbent on running his contract down so he can get a better deal!
    I’m starting to see a bit if a money grabbing judas about him now!
    Which is a bit of a shame really as Reid used to be one of my favourite Hammers!

  • johnny boy says:

    We should give reid away because hes shit . Every game ive been to in the last 2 years (about 25) reid has been no more than average. Then sell carroll for 10m and gold and sullivan put up the other 5m and buy both of them. Our defence has been rocky ever since we sold ferdinand.

  • simon says:

    Reid is pricing himself out of west ham – he wants a big pay bump and is also asking for clauses in a new deal if his European aspirations arent met – personally i think S&G would be mad to give him any deal under that basis – Reid is good but he isnt that good – under ideal circumstances WH might get 15 mil for him, under current circumstances they might get closer to 10 mil considering Arsenal, Man U and LIverpool are looking at him seriously so a bidding war could jump up his price tag- WH also have other targets they have to consider, a permanent RB is required, it could be that we do a deal with Arsenal and get Jenkinson in a deal, but S&G are also seriously considering bringing in Song permanently in the summer which imo would be a real coup but wont be cheap, and of course if that doesnt come off then we will have to look at filling that role aswell – they are also looking to bring back Ba in January presumable to provide cover for the boys off to the African Nations cup although i think he would be a great asset to the squad regardless, i also think Amalfitano should be brought in on a longer term deal than the one year he currently has – all up imo WH should be looking to replace Reid, our uplift in status this season and commitment towards squad improvements should bring in a reliable replacement more than capable of filling his boots, we could always do with another CD anyway as cover – and without being too harsh on players, we have a few who are surplus, Amalfitano makes Jarvis and Vaz Te obsolete, Demel at age 33, Joey Obrien, and CCole love him or hate him will not be needed if Ba comes in and Caroll is back and ready to fire, given the front line we now have Caroll can be used efficiently which will give him every chance to stay fit – we also have excellent cover in the defensive positions in the development squad and in the academy so there are some real possibilities that can develop at WH which will continue to brighten the future – IMO Reid isnt as important to the clubs future as some make out, and tbh he doesnt really seem that interested in staying at the club anyway, time to cash in and move on – given where WH are going right now and the move to the OS not far away, Reid imo is making the mistake, not WH. COYI

  • Classless says:

    Reid’s a good player but not the reason for our defence letting in less than we score. SA is the master there, I am confident SA could easily replace Reid.
    I think we should try for swap deals, with Jenks first choice.
    Spurs will prob come sniffing as their defence is hilarious at the moment but this is good as a bidding war will bump Reids price up.

  • ian says:

    Reid is a money grabbing Judas

  • Classless says:

    Maybe Reid is but let’s not get on his back yet as there might be no problem.

    The press are full of cak and like to stir so let’s wait and see.

    Zarate’s agent was quoted as saying he was looking at joining Serie A, at Xmas, only for Zarate to say he doesn’t even have an agent!

  • ajay says:

    Why don’t we blood in Reece oxford asap and give him a go at 6″3 he should be in and around the 1st team all the time, it’ll be worth it in the long term future for us

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